Gator hunt: 'Awesome experience just being out there'

Lee Grove of Mobile, left, tagged this 10-foot, 9.5-inch, 421-pound alligator Sunday with the help of Kevin Tignor of Fairhope, right, Danny Givens of Mobile, back left and Peter Mudrak of Daphne. Grove's gator was one of 46 killed during the first split of the seventh regulated hunt on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. (Press-Register/Jeff Dute)

Lee Grove and his crew tagged a fat 10-foot, 91/2-inch, 421-pound alligator during the final morning of the first split of the seventh regulated hunt on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

Grove's animal was among 46 killed by hunters over three nights.

In order to get on the water, Grove and his fellow gator-hunting "rookies" had to scramble to find a ride after the boat they'd used Friday broke down at the ramp Saturday morning.

Grove was anxious to hunt because his friend and crewmate Danny Givens, a native of Mobile, but who had flown in from his job in Denver, could only accompany them on the first weekend.

Through a mutual friend, Grove eventually contacted me and asked if I'd be willing to take them out. Since I hadn't been on a hunt in a couple of years, I readily agreed.

It turned out to be a perfect example of why these mid-summer hunts continue to increase in popularity.

The relaxed camaraderie was apparent, even as they took turns throwing friendly jibes at each other -- especially concerning their collective inability to cast over and hook a gator.

Grove, a fisheries research assistant at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, likely shares a fascination with alligators with many first-timers.

"I think alligators are one of the coolest animals on the planet," he said. "I thought it would be an awesome experience just to get close to them and be able to feel their power."

High ambitions are one thing. Reality is another.

Kevin Tignor expressed the dawning enlightenment that besets most first-time gator hunters, "It's a lot harder than we thought."

But when it counted, "Tig" made the perfect cast.

The crew, which also included Peter Mudrak of Daphne and Tignor, newly of Foley, had found a big gator in Big Bay John off the Raft River on Saturday morning, but couldn't get a hook in him, so they wanted to head back there and try him again.

The crew's spotlights illuminated several dozen eyes, and they tried to hook what looked to be an 8-footer. Tignor hit it on the head with his cast and Mudrak's found a palmetto bush on the bank.

At about 2 a.m., the crew was convinced the big gator wasn't going to show up, so they decided to make a move. Cruising on plane, the boat was just passing one of two wide ditches leading into a small, shallow grass-filled cove, when a gator spooked from the ditch, creating a large wake as it entered the main creek.

Grove decided to turn around see if the cause of that wake would surface.

A spotlight revealed that it had, and was holding stationary in the middle of the 6-foot-deep channel.

As the boat drifted steadily toward the illuminated eye, Tignor sent a long, arching cast over its back. Two or three cranks of the baitcasting reel and -- hook-up!

Over the next 30 minutes, the alligator led the crew on a back-and-forth battle of tug-of-war in the shallow water.

At one point, Grove got a second hook in it, but the gator immediately made a blistering run under the boat's stern, breaking him off on the engine. Miraculously, Tignor was able to work his line off the engine and the hook stayed planted.

With another weighted treble hook tied on, Grove once again stuck the gator. Now it was just a matter of wearing it out.

The crew got one quick glimpse of the animal's head as it surfaced briefly for air 15 minutes in, but everyone on board was still stunned when first the tail, then head came into view under the spotlights.

"It's huge!" someone yelled.

Using a snare of Tignor's design that incorporated a fish landing net with the net removed, pieces of water hose and quarter-inch rope, Mudrak was able to it around the gator's neck.

After a short, frantic, yet duly noted dance performance of "stomp" to avoid getting tangled in the rope as it peeled from his hands during the gator's final run, Mudrak was able to secure the thrashing animal to the boat.

Several bite marks in the gunwale will be permanent souvenirs of the gator's final attempts at freedom.

Givens ended the fight with a shotgun.

It was satisfying watching the friends celebrate their somewhat unexpected success to kill an animal of that size.

With his gator in the bed of his truck after checking it in at the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries office on the Causeway, Grove stood with a wide smile on his face as his friends recounted their hunt among themselves and for anyone else who'd listen.

"Even if we had struck out with getting a gator, I'd do it again," he said. "It was an awesome experience just being out there."

One he and everyone onboard will long share with their kids and grandkids. I know I will.